Precious Gem
by That-Mad-Hattie
Summary: Izuku has a useless quirk. Just an emerald embedded in the center of his chest. Not very heroic. All it does is make it so instead of dying, he enters the gem to heal and leaves it when he's done healing. That's it, nothing else, useless, worthless... At least until he meets All Might.
1. The Start Of My Life

Mom always said that my birth was strange. That when I came out, I was only an emerald gem. She told me that everyone was confused. But a few minutes later, my gem glowed and I formed around it. From then on, I was her little precious gem.

The doctor's found out that my 'body' was just a hard light construct. That my actual consciousness was in the gem embedded in the center of my chest.

As a kid, I was bullied a lot, because it was a useless and girly quirk. My best friend Kacchan became one of my biggest tormenters after he got his quirk at the age of 4. Though he never said it was girly, he always called it and me worthless and useless.

I was always told that I had no chance at becoming a hero.

When I turned 6 was the first time I poofed.

"Do not fear. Why? Cause I am here!" Izuku ran around fighting pretend villains in his new All Might pajamas.

Inko was pretending to be a damsel in destress like she had done so many times before.

But this time was different...

"I will save you citizen!" He jumped off the couch imagining he was flying. He stumbled as he landed, having mistimed the jump. As Izuku fell, he heard his mother scream before there was a sharp pain on his head.

"Izuku!"

Bang

...

Poof

**"Izuku!"**

She took my gem to a quirk doctor soon after, seeing as there was no body for a hospital to heal. After Mom was told I was fine and that my body just had to reform she took me home and placed my gem in a basket lined with blankets.

It took my body a week to reform.

Mom made herself sick with stress.

After the next 3 poofs, she stopped bringing my gem to the doctors. And after 2 more after that, the basket became my gem basket permanently. It sits on my nightstand, ready to be used when I poof.

Even though I can't die, everyone still says I can't be a hero.

I decided I would prove them wrong.

I started analyzing heros and their quirks.

Some of my favorites include All Might (of course), Present Mic (I listen to his radio show every morning), and the ever elusive Eraserhead (he's an underground hero, not much is known of him).

Though for some reason, I feel like I should really hate the #2 hero Endeavor. I don't know why. Maybe we'll find out in a later story arc.

I wish I had a quirk like All Might. It would make my life so much better.

Little did I know, I wasn't too far off.


	2. How The Day Started

All men are not created equal.

_"That's mean Kacchan! You're making him cry! I won't let you hurt him anymore!"_

I learned that at the age of 4.

_"Pretending to be a 'hero', Deku!? You don't even have a useful quirk!"_

That was my first and last setback.

Izuku ran down the street towards the train bridge a villian was on. The villian was big and looked like a bipedal shark. Izuku just knew heros would be here soon to save the day.

"Wow! That's a huge villain!"

He was right. Death Arms and Backdraft were soon on the scene. One catching falling debris that probably weighted more than several hundred pounds; the other ensuring the safety of the crowd that had formed to watch.

It all began a long time ago in the city of Qing Qing, China. News of a baby that radiated light being born had spread. Soon, similar cases were popping up all around the world.

There was never an answer for why this was happening. But it was. The 'unusual' became the 'normal', and 'dreams' became 'reality'!

Of the planets population, about 80% developed unique abilities called 'Quirks'! We have entered a new age: A society of superhumans.

And in this world whirling in chaos... A new profession, that people only thought possible in comics, has been brought into play...

**HEROS**

"Go awaaay!" The shark man yelled at the newest arrival, Kamui Woods.

"What happened?" A bystander asked another.

"An amateur, stole a purse and got himself cornered."

"A quirk like that and he's just a petty purse snatcher?"

Another civilian was on his phone, "I'm sorry boss... A villain appeared and smashed the train... I don't know when I can get into work..."

Closest to the fight were fan girls, "YEAH! GO GET 'IM KAMUI!"

Kamui does a subtle pose, "Asult and battery, robbery, and unlawful use of quirks during rush hour traffic! You are the incarnation of evil!"

Izuku promptly starts to fanboy. "It's Kamui Woods! So this is the new hero rising star! He's a capture hero with that signature move of his. Popular with women and children alike. He'll be in the top 50 in no time." At this point he started to mumble a little while absentmindedly digging through his bag for his hero analysis notebook.

"Hehe, I know what you are kid... You're a fanboy aren't you!?" A man with crosses sticking out of his bald head asked Izuku.

A dark green blush appeared on his already green tinted skin. "O-oh, umm, h-hehe."

He was saved from having to answer by Kamui speaking. "Now it is time to take you to the proper authorities!"

"Show us what you got, tree guy!" The man next to Izuku yelled.

"Ah! Here it comes! His ultimate move! _PREEMPTIVE_..." Izuku started

"**BINDING**..." Kamui continued

"**_LACQUERED CHAIN PRISON!_**" They both yelled as the hero started to preform the maneuver.

...

Which was stopped when a giant woman (wink wink) jump kicked the villain.

"CANYON CANNON!"

"This villain is great for my debut! My name is Mount Lady and you can leave the rest to me." The newly dubbed Mount Lady said

That seemed to knock everyone out of their shock. Photographers and reports started filing in rows. "Money shot. Money shot. Money shot." It was honestly a little creepy.

"She's getting all the credit?" Kamui looked defeated, on his knees with his head hung.

The appearance of quirks was quickly followed by an increase in crime. And while nations busied themselves with making new laws to compensate for quirks, men and women everywhere took inspiration from comics and donned the mantle of heros.

They began to patrol the streets of this new world and defend Innocents from evil. And suddenly with the swell of public opinion, heroism gained rights as an official occupation!

And due to their various acts of greatness, they obtained income from the state and renown from the people!

"Gigantification, huh... Well, she sure has the quirk and attitude to be popular, but there's a bigger chance for property damage and would need more room to fight. Of course that's a moot point if she can control her size." Izuku mumbled while he flipped to a new page in his notebook and started drawing the debuting hero.

The cross head guy noticed, "You taking notes!? Aiming to be a hero huh? I'm sure you'll be a great one!"

Izuku's smile was as bright and pure as the sun. " Yes sir! I'll do my best!"

Izuku's fine day took a turn later when his teacher started talking about their future.

"Listen up! You're in your last year of middle school! It's time you started thinking seriously about what you want to do with your life!"

Izuku already knew this would be bad. He kept his head down and hoped attention didn't get drawn to him.

"I'm supposed to be handing out forms on your desired course in life!"

Oh no, the teacher never missed a chance to have a bit of fun, usually ending up with Izuku being made fun of.

"But why bother? You all want to be heros, don't you?" Immediatly all the students erupted into cheers using there quirks to be louder or bigger to get attention. "Yes, yes, your quirks are all wonderful, but it's against the rules to use them during school!"

Then a voice shot out from the middle of the classroom. One that filled Izuku with dread. "Sensei! Don't lump me in with those nobody's! You can't compare me to these losers' weak-ass quirks! Mine is much more fit for a hero!"

The class obviously took offense, "you've got a big mouth, Katsuki! You're not that much better than us!"

"Don't kid yourselves, you damn extras!"

The teacher then butted in, "Oh yeah, Bakugou's aiming for UA High, isn't he?"

Whispers were heard throughout the room. "You mean that national level academy?" "It's it's entrance exam difficulty rating supper high?" "Yeah, and it's hyper-competitive."

Katsuki stood up on his desk. "I aced the mock test, and with my quirk I'll definitely get in! I'll be the only one in this school to get in! And I'll surpass even All Might!" He yelled with a smug look on his face.

"Now that you mention it, didn't Midoriya want to go to UA as well?" Bakugou seemed to freeze, while Izuku flinched. He knew what was to come.

Silence...

Then laughter.

"Midoriya!?" "There's no way!" "You can't get into heroics with studying and good grades alone!"

Izuku's skin was becoming a paler green by the second. Still, he felt the need to defend himself. "I can do it! I may not have a flashy quirk, but I can still do it!"

**Boom!**

"Eat shit Deku!" You can probably guess who said that. Izuku fell back from his desk and started scooting back until he hit a wall. "Forget having a weak quirk, you have a useless one! So where do you get off putting yourself on the same level as me!?"

He was trapped. He had put in a huge effort to not poof in school, to not let anyone know what he could do, and he didn't want all that work ruined now. He had to defuse the situation. "H-hold on... That's not it... Hold on, Kacchan... I-its not like I'm trying to compete with you! Never! It's just... I've wanted to be a hero since I was a kid and... And... You never know till you try..."

"YOU NEVER KNOW TILL YOU TRY!? YOU'D BE A WORTHLESS HERO! WHAT CAN A SHITTY NERD LIKE YOU ACCOMPLISH!?"

So, defusing the situation didn't work...

12:02pm in that very city

A gelatinous murky glob raced down the street as screams were heard.

"Stop him!" "Robber!" "Who is that!?"

The villain ran into several thing in his way but he seemed to just flow around them like water. Nothing slowed him down. "Go on, try and catch me! You can't even touch me!"

A tall skinny sickly looking man exited a grocery store only to face the villainous act going on.

"Don't worry. I'm sure a hero's on their way." One crowd member started. "He's probably taking advantage of the commotion from earlier today. Guess some people are just plain evil."

The skinny man started to inflate to look like a form very familiar to most.

"There's no end to them!" Another said

"Yes, there is. You know why? **For I am here!**" There was a broad ever present smile on his face.

After the final bell at the school

As everyone left the classroom making after school plans, Izuku was scrolling through his phone looking at news reports on the incident that morning. _'Today's fight was really popular. There's so much here I can make notes on. I better hurry home so I can get on that.'_

As he picked his notebook up to put it away, it was swiped from his hand. "Ah!"

"We're not done yet, Deku!" Bakugou had a nasty look on his face. Izuku felt like this 'conversation' was going to end badly.

Bakugou's lackies came up. "What's that, Katsuki?" Fingers asked.

"Hero Analysis For The Future... Haha, seriously? There's no point Midorya!" Wings added.

"Please! Give it back! It's mine!" Izuku's pleas went unheard. Katsuki held his notebook in one hand and raised the other. He could almost feel his heart shattering knowing what would happen next.

**Boom!**

As he thought, Bakugou punched the notebook causing an explosion that engulfed his precious notes. "Aaaaaah!" Luckily the book seemed intact. It would take a bit of rewriting considering it was literally smoking. "You...!"

"You know what all the top heros have in common? Everyone knew they were destined for greatness from the start!" Bakugou threw the notebook out the window. Yup, that definitely take some rewriting. Especially if it managed to land in the koi pond. "The same can't be said for you!" He got up close to Izuku's face putting a hand on his shoulder, burning it slightly. "What I'm saying is, forget about UA, nerd.

Izuku trembled as Katsuki let go and started walking to the door.

"Oh man... After so long, he still hasn't grown a backbone." Wings said looking back.

"Even as a senior in middle school, he still can't face reality." Fingers concluded

Bakugou stopped walking to look back at him. "Hey Deku! If you really want to be a hero so bad, there might actually be a way... _Believe you get a good quirk in your next life... And take a swan dive off the roof!_"

Izuku looked at him with a strange mix of scared and furious on his face. Katsuki set off an explosion in his hand. Izuku went stiff looking at the floor and waited as they laughed and left the room.


	3. A Wild Villain Appears

**I'm going to be dropping some names in this chapter that, if you haven't gotten far in the anime or manga, you might not know.**

**Toshinori=All Might in his skeletal form**

**Tsukauchi=Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa (a friend of All Might who knows of one for all)**

**I've been having trouble deciding a hero name for Izuku, I don't want it to be Emerald, and I really don't want it to be Deku. Any ideas? Also, I'm trying to put a Steven Universe reference (besides the whole gem Izuku). See if you can find it.**

**Also... I have fanart! It's amazing! I love it! Thank you!**

Izuku left the building to try and find his notebook. 'You dumbass, you can't just tell people to go and do that... What if I actually had jumped? You'd get in so much trouble... Though, I guess not, since it's not like I'd really die from it... Huh, looks like I really guessed it with the koi pond.'

"Go away, you dumb fish. That isn't food."

-‐-

I used to be obsessed with this one video. It was old footage of a huge disaster... And an amazing hero's debut.

"Ha ha ha! Never fear! Why!? FOR I AM HERE!"

"He's soooo cool! When I get my quirk, I wanna be just like him!"

Coincidentally, I got my quirk the next day.

"You should just give up, you stupid Deku! There's no way you can be a hero with that useless quirk!"

And that night, after ruthless bullying by my classmates, I sat in front of the computer watching that old video crying.

"Mommy? He always saves everyone with a smile... Cuz he's a super awesome hero. Do you think I can be a hero like him? Even if other people say I can't?"

"Oh Izuku! I know you can! You'll be the best hero ever!"

After that, I decided to prove the world wrong. That you can be a hero with a useless quirk.

On Izuku's walk home, he happened to enter a small tunnel under a bridge. 'Man this would really be bad if a villain appeared.'

A villain appeared.

'Why does the universe hate me? I was just trying to be funny!'

The slime monster's eye's turned towards him. "Well, what do we have here? A medium sized flesh suit... You should do nicely."

"Wha- hmp!" The villain wrapped around Izuku and started stuffing smile in his mouth and nose. Luckily though, it didn't enter any other places.

The sludge started speaking with his grotesque mouth. "Don't worry kid. It will only hurt for 45 seconds... Then, it'll all be over. Heh, you're my hero kid!" Izuku tried to grab hold of anything he could reach, but couldn't grip anything, the villains body just slipped through his fingers. "You can't grab me! My body is fluid!"

'Can't breathe! I'm dying! Am I dying? Somebody please! Help! Why me...' soon he felt the familiar sensation of poofing. 'Thank goodness! So this won't kill me! At least this guy won't get my bod- IS THAT ALL MIGHT?'

POOF

"TEXAS... SMASH!"

-‐-

Toshinori couldn't believe what just happened. He defeated and captured the villain in soda bottles, but the kid that was being suffocated just disappeared. All that was left of him was an emerald laying on the ground.

"Damn! I was too late! And that kid payed the price! Damn... This is always the worst part of the job... I better call Tsukauchi." All Might looked on in despair. It wasn't often, but civilian casualties that they couldn't save were a part of every hero's life. It had cauesed many new hero's to quit much too soon in their careers.

Just as he had gotten his phone out to make the call, the gemstone started to glow and rise from the ground. The glow formed humanoid shapes, going through several before stopping. The light then got more pigmented until the form was as colorful as it was when it was wrapped in the villains clutches.

The boy was alive.

What the fuck?

Whatever, the boy was alive and that's all that matters.

"ALL MIGHT! Oh gosh! It is you! I thought I saw you before I poofed, so I reformed as fast as possible!" Izuku started mumbling, almost forgetting what had just happened. "That was the fasted I've ever done it too. You're probably wondering how I did that. You see, my body is a hard light construct that has the anatomy of a normal human, so anything that would be fatal for a human just makes me enter my gem to heal and mumble mumble mumble mumble-"

'Okay' Toshinori thought. 'So that gave me some pretty good info on what just happened but now he's too quiet for me to hear.'

"Thank you for explaining that to me, but I really must go now." All Might said.

"Wha-? Wait! I have a question to ask you!" Izuku shot up to a standing position. His question was really important.

"I'm sorry, but I really don't have time for questions!" All Might stretched, getting ready for take off.

"Really? You can't stay?"

"Pros must battle against villains and time itself."

'Wait... I need to ask...'

"Now then, be sure to keep... CHEERING ME ON!" All Might shot off like a rocket into the sky. It wasn't until they we're already in the air that he realized he had an unexpected passenger. " Ehh!? Kid!? What the! Let go! There's such a thing as too much enthusiasm!"

"I-if I let g-go now... I'll fall!"

"Oh, you're right!"

"I really need to ask you something! It's important!"

"Okay, okay! Just close your eyes and mouth!" Izuku did just that and waited for them to land. What he didn't see was All Might cough and wipe blood from the corner of his mouth. 'Shit!'

After a minute, All Might landed the pair on what looked like an apartment building.

"My whole life flashed before my eyes..." Izuku squeaked

"That was very dangerous! You could have gotten hurt!" All Might sighed. He didn't have time for this. "Listen... I really have to go now, so I want you to get home an relax after the day you had."

"Wait! Please!" Izuku yelled

"I can't!" All Might was a bit frustrated at the boy for not understanding.

"Can someone with a useless quirk be a hero!?... Can someone with a useless quirk... Be like you!?" Finally... Izuku finally got to ask his question.

All Might stopped. "Useless?" He muttered in confusion. He then grunted as his time finally ran out. 'Damn... It's too soon... Damn it!...' Lucky for him, the boy across the roof didn't seem to notice as steam plumed around them.

"Everyone makes fun of me for my useless quirk... I can't really do anything, but I want to be a hero... I don't really know why, I just want to save people. To be the best person I can be... I want to save people with a fearless smile! I want to be a pro hero!... Just like you!" Izuku finally looked up from his rant...

To see a skeletal, unhealthy looking man who's only similarity to All Might was the blonde hair.

... "Aaaaaah! Whaaaaaa!? Buuuuuu!?... You shriveled up! Eh!? You mean? All this time... Wha!? You're an imposter!" stopped working.

Toshinori did not looked amused. "I can assure you I am All might." As he said that blood started to spray from his mouth.

"Eeek! It can't beee!" Izuku was simultaneously scared to see and grossed out by the blood.

Toshinori desided to put it in simpler terms. "You know those guys at the pool who are always flexing to look buff? It's like that."

"That kinda sounds like the opposite of truth!"


End file.
